Cruel Ending for Shawinigan

The Quebec Junior Major Hockey League final series between the Drummondville Voltigeurs and the Cataractes de Shawinigan was very disputed and was an exciting one to follow.

Coming back from a 1-3 deficit in the series, the Cataractes managed to win games five and six to force the presentation of game seven in Drummondville yesterday evening. Neither of those teams had won Quebec's championship in their history and a place in the Memorial Cup tournament as Quebec's champion was at stake.

Drummondville ended Shawinigan's streak by winning game seven by the score of 3-2. Both teams deserved to win but only one place was available unfortunately. So Drummondville will represent the league along with the host team, the Rimouski Oceanic.

Even worse for Shawinigan, their quest for a first Memorial Cup participation during those playoffs represented a second failure this season. The city was in the ranks to host the competition but was discarded by the deciding powers because the city's new arena was feared to be incomplete. The arena hosted it's first league game back in 2008...

Yesterday's cruel seventh game elimination will be tough to swallow for Shawinigan. Their team had a wonderful season but fell just a bit short at the conclusion.

I will follow the 2009 Memorial Cup competition with interest but am a bit deceived not to see the Cataractes in it. Congratulations to the champions and good luck for the rest of the way.